Bassett Family Association Database

Ernest William Markham

Male


Personal Information    |    PDF

  • Name Ernest William Markham 
    Gender Male 
    _UID BB75B736E49DAE4799EB5D9C6E1EFE12AC94 
    Notes 
    • Rebecca Mae (Bassett) Morgan
      Mae Morgan Writes Her History
      (Written in 1987. The Good Samaritan Home is in Hobert, Oklahoma).
      I was born March 24, 1904 at Texola, Oklahoma on my grandfather's ranch. Texola is about one mile from the Texas line.
      My mother's folks, the J.C. Graves family, filed on land in western Oklahoma when the land was opened for settlement.
      In 1902, my father had the first blacksmith shop in Texola. We lived there until 1914, when we moved to California together with my uncle, Henry Graves and his family. Nearly all the residents of Texaola were there to see us off. We lived in California about two years. My mother's folks kept writing and telling us that we should come back to Oklahoma to see about our farm and home in Texola. Mother and us children did not want to move back, but my father did, so we moved back to Oklahoma. Uncle Henry and his family moved back also.
      We lived on the farm, and I went to a country school called Choctaw. I say we learned more at that school than any we had attended so far. We learned the essential subjects; reading, writing and arithmetic. Then we moved to Erick, and later to Canyon, Texas. While I was attending school in Canyon, I met a young man who was in college by the name of William E. Markham. We were married and had three boys; Don, Billy and Eddie. We parted after a few years and the boys and I moved back to Erick.
      I met French Morgan and we were married in 1928. He adopted my three boys when they were old enough to say that they wanted to be adopted.
      Mr. Morgan and I had three boys, J.B., Earl and Robert. French was a good father; we lived on the farm, educated our boys, and we all worked together side by side. Don became a doctor, Earl was studying to be a dentist, but he took polio and so ended that, but he never gave up. He has managed Electric Cooperatives, and is presently Maintenance Supervisor for the Good Samaritan Center.
      Billy joined the Air Force and was killed over Bucharect, Romania in 1944, on April 4th. He received many honors, including the Purple Heart and Silver Star. Our house burned one week after Billy was killed. We lost everything, but all got out safely.
      We then moved to town. After we lived there for a short time, Eddie went into the service. Don was already overseas and received the news about Billy through his father-in-law who was the Chaplain.
      Eddie is now retired from Rainbow Bread, and J.B. work for Larry Jones, Feed the Children. He drives a truck and distributes food and clothing to many places.
      Robert, the youngest, lives in Levelland, Texas. He drives each day to Littlefield where he is a partner in a dealership. They boys all come to see me as often as they can.
      I have been in the Good Samaritan Home for three years as of May 7th. I like it here, and everyone is good to me. It really is a home away from home!
    Person ID I3015  2B Thomas Bassett of Virginia
    Last Modified 25 Aug 2013 

    Family Rebecca Mae (Mary) Bassett,   b. 24 Mar 1904, Texola, Beckham County, Oklahoma Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 1989  (Age 84 years) 
    Married 28 May 1921  Canyon, Randall County, Texas Find all individuals with events at this location 
    Children 
    +1. Living
     2. Billy Wayne Markham, (Morgan),   b. 19 Aug 1923, Erick, Beckham County, Oklahoma Find all individuals with events at this location,   d. 4 Apr 1944, Bucharest, Romania Find all individuals with events at this location  (Age 20 years)
    +3. Living
    Family ID F1070  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart